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Archive for February, 2014

Well, we can’t send you to Hollywood, but we can give you two reserved seats to our free film screenings starting on Wednesday, February 26!

The National Archives is hosting the 10th annual free screenings of the Academy Award nominees in four categories—Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Live Action Short Film, and Animated Short Film.

We’re giving away four sets of reserved tickets. You can choose the screening you would like to attend.

Just look for the hashtag #ArchivesOscar on Twitter, and answer the question! If we pick your reply (selected randomly), you’ll receive two reserved tickets for a screening.

You will have four opportunities to enter on Wednesday and Thursday. Good luck!

The screenings are presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in partnership with the Charles Guggenheim Center for the Documentary Film and the Foundation for the National Archives.

Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. No reservations are accepted. Free tickets are distributed at the Special Events entrance on Constitution Avenue, 60 minutes prior to start time. You must be present to receive a ticket. Theater doors open 30 minutes prior to start time. The saving of seats is strictly prohibited. Please note that some films may not be appropriate for general audiences.

The slave manifest of the brig Orleans, April 27, 1841 is on display from February 21 to March 30in the East Rotunda Gallery of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. Today’s post comes from curator Corinne Porter.

From the birth of the American republic to the abolition of slavery, kidnapping for sale into slavery was a constant threat to free black people in the United States. In 1841, Solomon Northup, a free-born African American from New York, was kidnapped by two white men and enslaved for 12 years in the deep South before he could prove his legal right to freedom. However, his liberation from bondage was exceptional—most enslaved free blacks never regained their freedom.

The slave manifest for the brig Orleans includes Solomon Northup, listed as Plat Hamilton, on line 33. (National Archives).

Abducting free blacks for sale into slavery was outlawed in most of the United States. However uneven law enforcement, the marginal rights of free blacks, and mounting demand for slaves after the end of the transatlantic slave trade made kidnapping an attractive and potentially profitable prospect that encouraged the creation of a reverse underground railroad.

Kidnappers gave their victims aliases to hide their true identities. In his personal narrative, 12 Years a Slave, Solomon Northup recounts that he first heard the name he would be known by as … [ Read all ]

Today’s post comes from Alan Walker, archivist at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland.

A fellow named Ansel Adams visited the National Archives Building in Washington, DC, in 1941. Here’s a record–in pictures, of course!–of his visit.

Adams was at the National Archives to select and print images from the Mathew Brady collection (now in series 111-B and 111-BA) for use in the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibit “Photographs of the Civil War and the American Frontier,” which would open in March 1942.

Here are notes from Vernon D. Tate, head of the Division of Photographic Reproduction and Research, regarding the benefits of a visit by Ansel Adams:

From notebook “1942-43 Office Notes and Daily Log, Part 1″ in Record Group 64, P entry 32

Adams came to the National Archives Building on that same day, and the next:

This photo of Adams is from a later visit. Original caption reads: “Visit to the National Archives by the famous American photographer, Ansel Adams, to look at some of his work in the Still Picture Branch, September 10,

Robert Edsel, author of The Monuments Men, the book on which the film was based, will speak at the National Archives tonight at 7 p.m. You also watch online at Ustream: http://www.ustream.tv/usnationalarchives. Edsel and a panel will discuss his books as well as the recent film adaptation. The panel includes our senior archivist Greg Bradsher.

The Monuments Men opened in theaters on February 7, but its origins began at our very own National Archives nearly 20 years ago.

Senior archivist Greg Bradsher has been at the National Archives for 37 years. Early in his career, he processed and appraised records relating to Holocaust-era assets. For him, the story of the Monuments Men is a massive treasure hunt spanning the globe.

“In the mid- to late-1990s, Holocaust-era assets suddenly became a hot topic,” Bradsher recalled. “At the time, I was the Assistant Branch Chief to Research Services at Archives II, so they asked me to become an expert since I already had the knowledge to deal with different researcher interests.”

The 90th Division discovered this Reichsbank wealth, SS loot, and Berlin museum paintings that were removed from Berlin to a salt mine in Merkers, Germany., 04/15/1945

His expertise came in handy when then-researcher Miriam Kleiman came to Archives II in March 1996 looking for records related to Swiss bank accounts during the Holocaust. Naturally, Bradsher was tapped … [ Read all ]

Don’t miss Robert Edsel at the National Archives onFebruary 19 at 7 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. Today’s blog post comes from Miriam Kleiman of the National Archives Public Affairs Office.

The new Monuments Men blockbuster film opens with Herman Goering gleefully viewing looted artwork at a Parisian art museum. The biggest art theft in history–the Nazi’s systematic and looting of more than a million items–was spearheaded and managed by Alfred Rosenberg. For the first time, anyone (who reads German) can read Rosenberg’s diary and peek inside the mind of an architect of Nazi policy and the top art looter of the of the Nazi Regime.

Artworks that were confiscated and collected for Adolf Hitler, seen here examining art in a storage facility, were designated for a proposed Führermuseum in Linz, Austria. (National Archives, 242-HB-32016-1)

Rosenberg’s diary was collected for possible use as evidence at Nuremberg, where prosecutors noted its importance: “Perhaps foremost among the prize acquisitions [of the captured records] was the neatly crated collection of all the personal and official correspondence of Alfred Rosenberg…” Rosenberg was convicted of crimes against humanity and hanged in 1946.

The bulk of his diary vanished shortly afterwards and has been recovered only recently with the help of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Justice. The diary was transferred to the United States … [ Read all ]

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